Before the 2013 election, Tony Abbott gave us fair warning that he would turn the clock back on the environment. As promised, his government has devoted itself to short-term economics and the sort of hardline…

Tasmanian forests will be opened for logging for “special timbers”.
Ta Ann Truths/FlickrAugust 28, 2014

Tasmania’s parliament yesterday passed new forestry laws to undo the state’s forest “peace” deal. The laws are the most significant step so far in delivering the Liberal government’s pledge to “tear up…

Parts of Tasmania’s World Heritage area will not be delisted – but the forests will still need management and protection.
ngaur/FlickrJune 23, 2014

The 74,000 hectares of Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension will not be delisted as requested by the Tasmanian and federal governments. At the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee…

Much of Tasmania’s World Heritage has been sculpted by ice. The extension to the area (currently under debate) adds to all these values.
Simon Lieschke/FlickrJune 19, 2014

The debate around Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension, under review this week at international talks in Doha, has centred on forests. But the area includes far more than “just” trees — including…

The new Tasmanian government has announced the first steps in delivering on its pledge to reinvent the forest industry. Interestingly, this includes not allowing logging for at least six years in 400,000…

Prime Minister Tony Abbott this week told a timber industry dinner that he doesn’t think national parks should be a growth industry: “We have quite enough national parks. We have quite enough locked up…

The Styx forests: world heritage, or soon to be unprotected again?
Rob Blakers www.robblakers.comDecember 15, 2013

The Abbott government wants iconic forests removed from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, so they can be logged – a plan opposed by timber companies, their industry body, Tasmania’s Premier…

Australia’s new government plans to axe not only the carbon price, but also iconic, World Heritage-listed, Tasmanian forests. Opening these forests for logging would break international law, and that would…

Tasmanians wait for the royal visitors to arrive earlier this year. The state has a population both the oldest in the country and ageing fastest.
January 25, 2013

Along with stagnating economic growth, Tasmania is facing a major demographic challenge - rising unemployment and a population which is both the oldest in the country and ageing faster than any other state…